The Man Whose Opinions Were All Exactly Alike

The Unfolding Text - Episode 826

This surrealist science fantasy novel was amongst the huge number of quickly written and, frankly, not very good, stories Horselover Fat wrote in the period 1958 to 1962, when he was also the editor of Intriguing Science Fantasy Novellas, one of the dying breed of magazines catering to the science fiction hobbyist.

Although quickly written and full of plot holes one can still see echoes of what would become his trademark incisive social commentary, particularly in the use of characters of color and the prolific use of drugs by virtually all the characters in this story.

It is doubtful in the extreme that this novel would have ever been serialised in ISFN at all had Fat not been the editor, a fact he admitted in an interview in 1992 during the retrospective cover art exhibition 'LURID: Art and Opinion of the Pulps of the 1960s' which was held in Provo, Utah, where of course Fat spent the vast majority of his life and where he is now buried.

It is interesting that his boring and conventional realistic novels never found an audience, mainly due to their saccharine sentimentality and overtly Mormon religiosity. None of them were published at all until after the author's death in July 2014, and only small press publishers have bothered. However it is believed that the LDS elders have authorized work on a standard edition of all of his realistic novels which will be sold from religious outlets only.

Fat rose to some prominence late in life when Hollywood began to use his science fantasy works as the basis for some of their 'underground' films during the period when the backlash against the reforms of the second term of the Robert Kennedy presidency led to the Reagan Moral Works Act of 1977.

Fat was obviously conflicted about his earlier science fantasy efforts, apologetically referring to them as his 'plantation work' in his later interviews. However he was proud of his ability to provide for his large family solely by his literary efforts.

It was that large, polygamous, family that led to his final fiery interview, the infamous exchange with Megyn Kelly leading to the riots outside Fox News studios that in turn led to the Cruz-Love Act banning public assemblies.

We should all be thankful that legislation such as that exists to guarantee our freedoms and protect our safety.